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But she and The Girl’s director, Julian Jarrold, stand accused of trashing the reputation of Hitchcock, who died in 1980. At a preview screening held at the British Film Institute on Thursday night, audience members claimed the film cast him as an “utterly loathsome” character and would “seriously undermine Hitchcock’s reputation as an English hero”.

Hughes said: “He is still a hero to me. I hope we haven’t portrayed him like that. Hitchcock was a man who suffered profound loneliness and unhappiness and I feel terribly sorry for him.”

Hedren, 82, attended the screening and said the film was a truthful account of a “horrible and frightening experience”.

Sexual harasssment laws did not exist in the 1960s and she had no-one to turn to, the actress said, adding: “Today if this happened I would be a very rich woman.”

The Girl will be shown on BBC Two this autumn.

Hitchcock famously used real birds to attack Hedren during filming of his 1963 classic, after telling her he would use only mechanical models. The experience left Hedren bleeding and traumatised.

She refused to work with Hitchcock again after Marnie but he had tied her into a seven-year contract and refused to let her work with other big-name directors, including Francois Truffaut. Hedren said: "He told me he would ruin my career and he did. I later learned of all the directors and producers who wanted me for their films but they would have to go through him and he always said, 'She's not available'.

"He ruined my career but he didn't ruin my life, not at all. Because of those two films he has given me a celebrity I have been able to use in so many ways."

Hedren now runs an animal charity and campaigns for legislation to ban the breeding and selling of exotic animals in the US.